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Rating: Never underestimate a woman. It may seem obvious, but too often many not very astute men seem to forget it, or they don't know it at all and then find out to their own detriment. In case of doubt, I warmly recommend watching this film made by documentary filmmaker Murray Lerner, published in 2018 but dating back to the Isle of Wight music festival in 1970 (an authentic inexhaustible mine of live performances by rock and jazz musicians of the time).
In this specific case, the camera follows the performance of Joni Mitchell, a Canadian folk singer who had already achieved considerable success after her first three LPs since her debut in 1968. Sure, her fame was not yet as solid as some artists present at that edition of the Isle of Wight festival, like Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, The Doors, The Who (just to name a few of the various). But as the camera attests, it already denoted not only being a musician with a refined sound and rich nuances but also a woman of strength, capable of facing a vast and restless audience like the one present at the Isle of Wight in 1970. And just to give an idea, in that edition, a certain number of spectators complained about the then high cost of tickets, the presence of enclosing barriers to separate ticket holders from those claiming free access to music (those who would later be known in Italy as more or less proletarian self-reducing concert goers), as well as the overall rigid organization of the festival.
In short, taking the stage in the middle of the afternoon of the fourth day of the event (instead of in the evening) to perform in front of such a vast (at least 600,000 people), demanding, and lively audience couldn't have been a joke. But Joni, despite her slender and timid appearance, does not lose courage and confirms the great inner strength of women I mentioned in the premise of my review. Unleashing a repertoire of intense songs proposed with her angelic voice, the folk singer passes unscathed through the unexpected events coming from certain audience members. Whether it's a spectator having a bad trip on acid (for which medical support is required) or another getting on stage to draw attention to the reasons for free music access, Joni Mitchell keeps her course straight and continues the concert. At one point, she rightly reprimands the noisy front-row spectators, describing their behavior as typical of annoying tourists, and invites them to have the proper respect towards someone like her performing live musical pieces. Wise words that have the desired effect of calming spirits and creating the right level of attention towards the musician. And Joni showcases the best of her compositions, including "Woodstock," "Big Yellow Taxi," "For Free," alternating solo on guitar and piano, then delivering a true ace of spades with the song "California" performed masterfully on the dulcimer and with a voice so sweet as to enchant any living being. It's hard to come across such an intense blues, composed by Mitchell while traveling as a typical hippie in Europe (it would later be published in the LP "Blue" released in 1971) yet feeling nostalgic for the state of California.
In short, a performance that captivates the entire large audience of the Isle of Wight festival and rightfully delivers Joni to the history of folk rock, from which she will proceed to embark on the refined paths of jazz. Since she retired from performing a few years ago (also due to health issues), I think there is no better way to remember her in her best career years than by watching "Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now - Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970".
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